John Ivison: Stockwell Day deserves to be remembered

That Stockwell Day’s career in federal politics paralleled the evolution of the wider conservative movement was no coincidence.

Both Mr. Day and the Reform Party tradition from which he emerged have moved from political ridicule on the fringes to the very heart of political power in Canada — and the former Canadian Alliance leader has been in the vanguard of that journey.

On Saturday, the Treasury Board President said he would not run for office at the next election. Similar announcements were made by Chuck Strahl, the Transport Minister, and John Cummins, a veteran Conservative from B.C.

While Mr. Day`s decision was a surprise, apparently even to the Prime Minister, Mr. Strahl’s departure has been rumoured for over a year. The gruelling weekly treks to ridings in British Columbia appear to have taken their toll and both ministers have decided to spend more time with their grandchildren while they are still able. They will be missed — both have been competent ministers and are decent human beings, qualities this government does not possess in abundance.

For his part, Mr. Cummins was 69 last week and there are rumours he may yet get involved in provincial politics. This is merely the latest tranche of parliamentary dispatches in a comprehensive changing of the guard that will leave just five former Reformers in the next Parliament from the wave that swept into Ottawa in 1993. Of those, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is the only one under 60.

There are a similar number of Reformers who were elected in 1997. A number of Western Conservatives who were elected under the Reform banner have already left or said they won’t seek re-election, including Jay Hill, Jim Abbott and Rick Casson.

Former Environment Minister, Jim Prentice, left government late last year to join CIBC. When he came to power, Mr. Harper made much of his claim that finally, at long last “the West is in.”

And it was. Westerners like Mr. Prentice, Mr. Day and Mr. Strahl moved straight into Cabinet.

But, while the Conservatives may retain all the seats vacated by the long-serving Western MPs, the departure of senior ministers will further tilt the balance of power away from the West and toward Ontario.

The Conservative Party already has twice as many MPs from Ontario as it does from Alberta. Long-time Tories have noted that over time the party has become less Western, less rural and less cranky, as it has moved further from its Reform roots.

Reform MPs came to Ottawa with a mandate to push grassroots democracy and open government. But, as Lethbridge College political scientist Faron Ellis put it, the party fell into a “populist trap.” It couldn’t take firm positions on important issues without consulting voters; yet it couldn’t get elected into government, and then hold referenda, without taking firm positions.

Eventually, Reform’s members and supporters realized they would have to convince Canadians they were disciplined and competent enough to form government, creating the necessary conditions to unite the right. Just as the Reform Party learned from its mistakes and re-invented itself, so did Mr. Day.

While he was never a Reform MP — he was elected to the Canadian Alliance caucus — he suffered many of the same slings and arrows from a parliamentary press gallery that was not sympathetic to a devout Pentecostal from the West. While Reform was stereotyped as a bunch of sexist, racist, homophobic rednecks, Mr. Day was lampooned for his belief in creationism. From the jet-ski and wetsuit press conference to the Niagara River flowing south incident; from the Rick Mercer-inspired petition to force him to change his name to Doris, to the exodus of disgruntled MPs to form the “Rebel Alliance,” his time as leader of the CA was a “fountain of comedic material and political ridicule,” according to Mr. Ellis.

Yet, after losing the Canadian Alliance leadership to Mr. Harper, Mr. Day quietly began to re-fashion himself. After the Conservatives won government, he was named Public Safety Minister and is credited with winning concessions from the Americans after they announced the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative restricting entry to the United States. Mr. Day got on so well with President George W. Bush that he once invited him to the U.S. to go mountain-biking with him. When he moved to International Trade, he was again in the forefront of politics, as the Americans threatened cross-border trade under the Buy American program. It was a sign of the Prime Minister’s confidence in Mr. Day that he moved him to Treasury Board, just as the government began to shift its priority from stimulus spending to deficit reduction.

Few politicians have been able to pull off the trick of getting a second chance to create a first impression. Stockwell Day deserves to be remembered, not as a political punchline, but as the seasoned elder statesman he has become.

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